The Artifact
by Wadin Ann Killum
Summary: A story that attempts to explain where Megatron got the Transmetal 2 driver from.


Don't own and didn't create Transformers or Beast Wars. Hasbro/Takara did. So don't sue.

(This story takes place after the episode "Changing of the Guard" and before "Cutting Edge")

-

Earth. A beautiful planet. Even though there is still evidence of the planet-buster's damage to the surface, vegetation is making a comeback. Plants are sprouting and animals are reappearing. However, our interest instead lies in a nearby cave, where strange sounds resounded from.

"OWWWWWWWW!" Tarantulas screamed as Waspinator accidentally dropped a small boulder on his foot. "You micro-brained moron! Can't you do anything right?"

"Waspinator sorry! If spider had not gotten in way, he might have not hurt foot." Waspinator replied desperately, as Tarantulas advanced on him, fire in his eyes. Rampage took little notice, quietly proceeding in his work, digging through the wall of the cave. Quickstrike, however, was extremely interested about the situation unfolding.

"Alright! Kick some keister, spider-bot!" he shouted enthusiastically, swinging his asymmetrical arms in a wild manner. Tarantulas suddenly stopped, and turned, exasperated.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! Why am I forced to work with these incompetents? Does Megatron have something against me, perhaps?" asked Tarantulas, out loud. Rampage cackled lightly at this query.

"I don't know, maybe it's because you betrayed him on numerous occasions, insulted him, and stole his Energon rations?" asked Rampage snidely. Tarantulas turned and gave him a cold glance.

"You're one to talk, SLAVE." sneered Tarantulas, putting emphasis on the last word. Rampage dropped his laser pick, and clenched his fists. Tarantulas instantly knew he had gone too far. Rampage turned, his face unreadable and slowly started to walk to Tarantulas. Quickstrike giggled a little as Rampage walked past. Tarantulas seemed to shrink as Rampage towered over him.

He's afraid, thought Rampage. A smile crept to his mouth. Primus! It felt good to see and literally taste fear in a victim. Rampage simply stood over the spider-scientist, looking at him. Tarantulas found Rampage's smile fairly disconcerting. It was more frightening than say, if Rampage had shoved a cannon in his face.

This could get ugly, thought Tarantulas as Rampage simply stared at him. "Don't crowd me, crab." sputtered Tarantulas after a second.

"Tasting your fear was more than enough." replied Rampage, in that disconcerting, calm way of his. He finally backed away and went back to work. Tarantulas let out an audible breath, and told himself not to do that again to someone who had dismantled and nearly killed him before. If not for his cyber-spiders, he might not have survived that first encounter. When Rampage had first arrived, he had been on the outs with Megatron. Rampage had nearly totally destroyed him. He shuddered as he thought back to when he had first seen him. Energon was literally sparking all over him. While Tarantulas stood stunned Rampage had simply backhanded him. He slammed into Rampage's extremely large stasis pod, and struggled to get up. Rampage had stretched out his hand, gesturing that he would pull him up, and like an idiot, without thinking, Tarantulas took it. Rampage immediately ripped the arm out of the socket and flung it behind him, nearly out of view. He then proceeded to beat the spider into stasis lock. He had awoken in his lair, in the CR-chamber, with his faithful cyber-spiders looking on. He had been shaken badly that day, and even more badly when he learned that Megatron had somehow gotten the creature under his control. He quickly dismissed the fear as irrational, and got over it, but he would always be uncomfortable around Rampage. He turned to see Quickstrike and Waspinator looking at him and giggling.

"Morons" muttered Tarantulas as he went back to work. The others went back to work also. A little time past, and they were still getting nowhere.

"What exactly are we lookin' fer?" Quickstrike asked, breaking the silence. Tarantulas decided to humor him.

"Our scanners picked up the frequency of alien code in this area, Fuzor. Naturally, Megatron wants any alien technology to fall into our hands. NOT the Maximals'" replied Tarantulas flatly.

"Ah see" said Quickstrike, scratching his head.

"As usual, Tarantulas's explanation is correct" rang a voice. The Predacons looked to see Megatron and Inferno, in flight modes, hovering in. The Predacon commander landed with his faithful sub commander not far behind. "Have you any news?" asked Megatron of Tarantulas.

"Nothing yet. As we can see, the source of the alien frequency is extremely deep within this cave, but we should be able to reach it within 13.6 cycles" replied the spider. "The only problem is the Maximals will have also detected this fluctuation."

"Unfortunately, I have also come to this conclusion. We might have to fight them away from the cave." Megatron said. "For now, however, we must continue working, yes. Inferno!"

"Yes, Royalty!" replied Inferno.

"Stay outside this cave. If any Maximals approach, radio me, and then engage." commanded Megatron.

"Of course, Royalty. Beast Mode!" shouted Inferno. He converted to ant mode and scurried to the entrance of the cave. Megatron smiled. It was only a matter of time now...

-

"Optimus, come here." motioned Rhinox.

"What is it?" Optimus asked, moving to the scanner screen where Rhinox was sitting.

"I've been monitoring Grid Marnic, and Megatron and Inferno passed through there. Seemed to be heading somewhere." replied Rhinox. "Looks mighty suspicious."

"Hmmmmm. I know. Who's closest to that position?" demanded Optimus.

"Well, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia are in Grid Dorse, but Cheetor and Rattrap are just outside Grid Marnic." said Rhinox.

"Good, tell them to check it out. In the meantime, where's Depthcharge?" replied Optimus.

"Can't get a lock on him. He's found some way to block our scanners." reported Rhinox.

"Prime. Now he's thinking we're the enemy." sighed Optimus. "Well, if the Predacons are in that grid, that where Depthcharge would be. He's still after Rampage, after all. Just radio Cheetor and Rattrap. Tell them not to engage unless necessary. I'll be along shortly."

"Affirmative." replied Rhinox, as Optimus transformed to his flight mode and departed.

-

"Waspinator find! Waspinator find! Here! Here!" shouted the Predacon wasp as he jumped up and down excitedly. Where he was working, the rock on the walls had slid off, and the assembled Predacons were now looking at some sort of metal door.

"Excellent, Waspinator." replied Megatron as he walked to the door. The Predacon leader examined it and then said "Tarantulas, play that bit of alien code we intercepted." Tarantulas laughed in his disturbing way and reached into subspace. He pulled out a strange looking device and pointed it at the door. As he touched a button on it, a strange sound came from it. It was almost like an eerie melody. A strange light blinked on the door, and when the recording was over, the door liquefied and melted to the ground. Megatron smiled and started to walk in...

-

"Man, how did I get stuck with you on patrol?" asked Rattrap as he and Cheetor, beast modes, walked along.

"Hey, you're not my dream date either, Rat-face, but there's nothing to do about it." replied Cheetor.

"Yeah, yeah. You're so funny...punk..…...I oughta..." Rattrap muttered under his breath.

"Hey! We're here!" said Cheetor, ignoring Rattrap. The cave was carved into the side of a small mountain. There was a small path up to the cave.

"Finally." whined Rattrap.

"Soooooooo, we just wait here, I guess. Till Big-Bot comes, right?" asked Cheetor.

"Yeah. We just gotta observe what they're doing in there." replied Rattrap.

"How exciting." said Cheetor. As the two started to walk closer to the cave, they were unaware that they were being watched. Inferno quickly radioed to Megatron from his point on the mountain.

"Inferno to the Royalty, I have located two Maximals approaching our position." he said into his com-link. Meanwhile, within the cave Megatron was about to walk into the alien door.

"What? Blast! They must not interrupt this. Inferno, when they are in range, eliminate them." commanded Megatron. "And just in case Inferno cannot deal with it, the rest of you hold the Maximals off."

"And what will you be doing?" asked Tarantulas warily.

"Exploring in here, of course. Give me the alien code." replied Megatron. Tarantulas gave him the device, and he walked through the door. After a few seconds, the door reformed.

"Perfect." mumbled Tarantulas. "Hold your positions." he shouts to the others. I hope Megatron has this under control, he thinks as the others whip out their weapons and stand ready.

-

"I expected you to be here." said a voice from above. Cheetor and Rattrap looked up to see Depthcharge in jet mode landing.

"Depthcharge! Alright! We can kick some real Pred-butt now!" said Cheetor excitedly as Depthcharge transformed and landed.

"I don't think so, Captain Flounder. Our orders are to watch and see what happens, not scrap with em'." Rattrap said.

"Do whatever you want. Rampage is in that cave." Depthcharge replied, half-paying attention to Rattrap.

"Oh-no. You are NOT going against Optimus's orders, ya overgrown salmon." Rattrap said sternly.

"You gonna stop me, rodent?" asked Depthcharge threateningly.

"Well, uh, well, um, no, I, well, uh." Rattrap stammered.

"I don't have time for this. Either you help me or you stay out of my way." Depthcharge said as he transformed to jet mode and rocketed towards the cave.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh, slaggit. Let's go kitty." Rattrap relented.

"You got it, Rat-face." replied Cheetor as he flipped out his jets. Rattrap transformed to robot mode and got on, hefting his rifle. They took off after Depthcharge.

"Fish are rapidly becoming my least favorite animal. Right after dinosaurs." Rattrap muttered.

-

Inferno watched as the three Maximals flew to the cave entrance. By the Royalty, these fools would not interfere! This was the final thought Inferno had before he flew off the mountainside, shouting "FORRRRRRRR THEEEEEEEEE ROYALTYYYYYYYYYYY!"

-

A shot whizzed past Depthcharge's head. What the slag? He thought as he looked up. Inferno flew down, screaming and firing his cannons wildly. Depthcharge peeled off as Rattrap and Cheetor were forced to avoid the shots.

"Geez! Stay still, kid, so I can get a clear shot." shouted Rattrap as Cheetor struggled to avoid Inferno's shots.

"It's kinda hard when I'm barely avoiding getting my pretty tail scorched." Cheetor yelled back. "Hang on just a second." Cheetor desperately attempted to escape from Inferno's firing range, but it was no use; the demented ant was fixed on his target.

"BURNNNNNNNNNNN MAXIMALSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Inferno shouted insanely. Suddenly, a disk-shaped energy projectile flew by, knocking Inferno's cannons from his hands. "Who dares disarm an agent of the Royalty?" he demanded.

"I dare." replied Depthcharge as he fired off a barrage ofionic discs. Unfortunately, Inferno was able to mostly avoid all the disks. Cheetor, though, had used Depthcharge's distraction to fly closer to Inferno and drop Rattrap on him.

"Gah! Off me, vermin!" shouted Inferno as Rattrap hung from his back.

"Yeah, sure. Just as soon as I leave a little present." retorted Rattrap as he reached into his arm compartment and slapped an auto-bomb on Inferno's chest. He then leapt off. "KITTYYYY CATTTTTT!" he yelled as he fell. Meanwhile, Inferno's battle-crazed mind only had a few seconds to piece together what the small device clamped to his chest would do. The bomb detonated, shattering his body into hundreds of pieces, raining them on the mountain as Cheetor barely caught Rattrap. "Thanks, spot." he said.

"No prob, Rattrap. The day this kitty can't catch a mouse is the day I..." Cheetor was interrupted.

"No time for banter, cat. We go to the cave now." Depthcharge said.

"You bet, flounder-brain" replied Rattrap. The trio started to fly towards the cave.

-

What are they waiting for, thought Tarantulas as he and the others readied their weapons. Did Inferno succeed?

"I can sense their fear. They are nearby." announced Rampage.

"Alrighty! Time ta kick some keister!" yelled Quickstrike.

"Quiet, fool." snapped Tarantulas. He carefully aimed his gun, and waited.

The three Maximals landed next to the opening of the cave. Depthcharge armed his drone gun with armor-piercing shells, Rattrap brought out his rifle, and Cheetor snapped his forearms together, bringing his quasar cannon on-line. "Ready?" asked Depthcharge.

"Never readier." replied Cheetor. Depthcharge started to turn, but as soon as he placed his leg into view, a barrage of missiles, laser, and venom blasts poured out of the cave. Depthcharge barely managed to pull back in time.

"Ahhhhhh, my old friend is here." said Rampage dryly. "He's too kind."

"Don't fire till ya see the wires in their optics." Quickstrike said, squinting. Meanwhile, outside the cave the Maximals formulated a plan.

"Almost too close. We need some cover." announced Depthcharge. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Lucky for you I got my handy spy-rat kit. Including these babies." said Rattrap smugly, holding up two rectangular devices. "Smoke bombs." he added as he activated and tossed them into the opening.

"What the slag?" asked Tarantulas as the cave opening filled with smoke.

"What are Maximals doing?" wondered Waspinator aloud. His question was answered when several shots emerged from the smoke. Coming from the smoke was Depthcharge, unloading torpedoes and shells from his two large rifles, with Rattrap and Cheetor also firing their weapons into the Predacons. One of Depthcharge's torpedoes struck the far wall. The whole cavern shook with the impact.

"You fools! You can't use your missiles in here, you're likely to bury us all!" shouted Tarantulas.

"Well whaddaya know. The spider's right!" said Rattrap, lowering his weapon.

"That's fine by me. I'd much rather rip you apart with my bare hands, X." replied Depthcharge, throwing his guns into subspace and charging at Rampage.

"For once, we agree." shouted Rampage back as he met Depthcharge with a backhand. Before long, the two were engaged in a grappling match. Cheetor converted to cheetah mode, and flipping out his wings, jetted into Tarantulas, sending the two into the back of the cave. Rattrap turned to engage Waspinator and Quickstrike.

-

What beauty, thought Megatron as he roamed the halls of what seemed to be an alien stronghold. He had heard explosions earlier, but he trusted the others to handle it. This was too crucial to abort. Finally, after what seemed like an endless array of hallways, he came to a clearing. A large, temple-like structure sat at the top of a length of stairs. Not willing to walk the steps, Megatron activated his turbo-fans and flew to the top. A small capsule was stationed at the top. Megatron landed and examined it for a minute. With his hand on his chin, he pulled out the device and prepared to play the alien code.

-

Cheetor crashed into the side of the cave, shaking a bit, but otherwise undamaged. Tarantulas walked up, readying his buzz saw weapon, to finish off his opponent in the most grisly of fashions. Cheetor managed to transform from his cheetah mode. Slamming his arms together, he snap-fired a quasar blast at the Predacon scientist. Prepared, Tarantulas jumped it and fired the buzz saw off. The flying saw blade missed and embedded in the wall next to Cheetor as he aimed and fired again. This time, Cheetor managed to hit Tarantulas in the shoulder with the shot. Spinning to the ground, the spider decided to switch weapons, to his secondary rifle. Taking it out, he fired several electro bolts from it. With nowhere to really dodge, Cheetor took the shot in the chest. The electro-bolt paralyzed Cheetor and put him down for the count. Tarantulas chuckled and moved away. Going back into the main area of the cave, the Predacon realized that he had nothing to do. Depthcharge was engaged with Rampage, and Rattrap was doing quite a good job against both Waspinator and Quickstrike. A good time, he thought, to set up this little treat. Tarantulas reached for a small explosive charge, and giggling as he normally did, went to set it.

Meanwhile, Waspinator used his eye beams and Quickstrike his venom laser to pin down Rattrap behind a rock pillar. Without looking, Rattrap swung his arm around his cover and fired, impressively managing to fire his rifle in a precise burst against Quickstrike. Two shots slammed into his longer weapon arm, blowing it away. The third shot hit him in the chest, throwing him out of the fight. Panicked, Waspinator switched to his missile launcher and fired. One missile hit the wall, making the cavern shake once again. Knowing the danger, Rattrap leapt out from his cover, tossing his rifle away and bringing out his tail whip. Rattrap swung it, slapping Waspinator's launcher from his hands. Knowing that he's beaten, Waspinator converted to beast mode and attempted to fly away.

"Not so fast, buzz-head!" yelled Rattrap. He leapt for his rifle, recovered it and fired in one smooth motion, clipping the wasp-Predacon's wings off. Waspinator crashed and slumped to the ground. As Rattrap turned to move away a large mass suddenly slammed into him, knocking him hard against the wall. Depthcharge got up, having been thrown by Rampage, and without any concern for the dazed Rattrap, went after Protoform X again.

"Uhhhhhhh, it's always the fish." muttered Rattrap before falling unconscious. Depthcharge jumped back into Rampage, knocking him on his back. Depthcharge slugged him hard in the face, then proceeded to tear a piece of Rampage's chest out. Rampage's hideous mouth actually formed into a grin. The large, blue Maximal was fighting like an animal. Rampage actually was amused by the hatred and ferocity in Depthcharge's attacks. But Rampage couldn't just take the pain; he also had to give some in exchange. Rampage rammed his fist into Depthcharge's torso. Depthcharge recoiled and fell back. Rampage followed up with a kick to his chest. Unnoticed by either of them, Quickstrike staggered up nearby, and sloppily reattached his severed gun arm.

"Uhhhhhhhhh, I'm gonna kill that rodent varmint." muttered the Fuzor as he aimed his venom blaster. "But first, that big flounder's gonna git hurt." Meanwhile Rampage was knocked back from Depthcharge, and then was double-fisted in the torso. Rampage fell again, but as Depthcharge advanced, a venom beam struck him in the back. The larger Maximal staggered, the venom blast slowing disabling his motor controls.

"N-NO!" Depthcharge screamed as he fell, paralyzed. He struggled against the disabling attack, but finally sank into unconsciousness. Rampage looked to see Quickstrike aiming again at the fallen Maximal's head.

"Haw-haw! C'mon, crab-cake. Let's have us some fun now!" shouted Quickstrike eagerly. The Fuzor was completely caught unawares as Rampage suddenly shot him directly with his rifle. Quickstrike fell, smoking from a hole in his lower torso, immediately into stasis lock.

"He's mine, and mine alone." said Rampage darkly, lowering his gun. He got up and started to turn to Depthcharge when a blast impact threw him to his back. "Wha?" he stammered as he looked up. Standing there was Optimal Optimus, chest-mounted cannons deployed, and targeting scope trained on Rampage's chest.

"Want to fight a standing opponent, Rampage?" he asked tonelessly. Rampage growled and threw himself at the Maximal leader.

-

As the last of the alien code played, Megatron waited patiently for something to happen. The capsule opened, revealing a small sphere. Contemplating for a moment, Megatron finally reached and picked it up. Almost immediately, the entire compound began to shake. Not willing to hang around to find out what would happen, Megatron quickly shoved the sphere into subspace and took off, as the room started to collapse.

-

Optimus slammed his massive fist into Rampage, throwing him back. Suddenly, the entire cave started to shake. What in Cybertron, he thought as Rampage struggled to maintain his composure.

What the slag! Thought Tarantulas as he ran back near the battle. He hadn't activated the explosive yet. What was happening? As he came in, he saw Optimus pulling Depthcharge up, and Rampage throwing Quickstrike and Waspinator over his shoulders.

"Where have you been?" The Transformer formerly known as Protoform X demanded.

"Taking care of something, what's happening?" replied Tarantulas quickly.

"No idea. I also have no idea where Megatron is." Rampage said.

"Why, are you worried?" asked Tarantulas mockingly.

"He has the core of my spark!" snapped Rampage. "Of course I'm worried!"

"Your……concern is touching, Rampage, but unnecessary." replied Megatron as he came out of the metal door birthed amongst the rocks. "We have what we want. We will take our leave."

Optimus looked up. Where did Megatron come from? The Maximal commander wondered. But there was no time for that now- he had to get his team out. The cave started to drop large stalactites all over the place. Rattrap walked up to him, rubbing his head. "Are you alright?" asked Optimus.

"Yeah. I broke fish-boy's fall. I'll be fine." the Maximal spy replied. Optimus nodded and lifted Depthcharge, who slowly stirred.

"Hmmmmpppphhhhhhh, my hero." he said weakly.

"We'll discuss your behavior back at base." Optimus replied sternly. "Rattrap, get Cheetor."

"No prob." Rattrap said, running to the limp Maximal feline and getting him conscious. Cheetor groaned slightly as Rattrap transformed to rat-dragster mode. The feline Maximal hopped on and they took off. Rattrap sped by Optimus to the opening of the cave. Optimus ran after them.

"I've left a little present in here, Megatron." Tarantulas said with a chuckle as Megatron powered up his laser-lance. Turning to the spider, Megatron grinned and nodded. Still chuckling, Tarantulas pushed a button on his arm. The back of the cave exploded, intensifying the collapse.

"Excellent, Tarantulas. Now the Maximals will never learn what was in here. Now we must leave quickly." Megatron replied as he unleashed his cannon's power upon a wall in the cave side. It blew out, and Megatron, Tarantulas, and Rampage carrying Quickstrike and Waspinator leaped out and escaped as the whole mountain totally collapsed.

"What about Inferno?" Rampage asked, turning to Megatron.

"We'll send Waspinator to salvage him after he's been repaired. For now we will savor our victory." Megatron said, beginning the long journey back to base.

"What did you accomplish?" Tarantulas inquired.

"All that I needed to." Megatron's some what distant reply came as he walked away. Rampage and Tarantulas looked at each other puzzled, and walked after him.

-

"Uhhhhhhhhh, I hate when that happens." grumbled Cheetor as the Maximals watched the mountain collapse.

"We may never know what Mega-brain was tryin' to do in there." Rattrap said.

"What did you three think you were doing? If I hadn't come along, you'd all be scrap." Optimus spoke harshly.

"There was a chance, and we took it." Depthcharge replied.

"You had no authority to do so." Optimus shot back. He calmed down a bit. "But, let's get you three back to base. I have a bad feeling that whatever Megatron thought he could accomplish here, he fully succeeded. We'll have to worry about that when it comes. Come on." The four Maximals walked away, as night began to fall on the land.

-

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh, Tarantulas. We are in quite a good position here. The Maximals have no idea what they allowed to be placed in our hands." Megatron said proudly, holding up the mysterious alien orb. He sat in his command chair, contented with the day's events.

"And what, pray tell, is that thing?" Tarantulas questioned.

"I found it in the structure." Megatron replied, placing the orb on the arm of his chair. "These aliens shouldn't leave their toys lying around if they don't want them used on my playground."

"Interesting. But what does it do?" Tarantulas inquired.

"It is some kind of portable generator, as far as my preliminary scans have told me. I'm not certain, but I believe we'll be able to duplicate a quantum surge with it." continued Megatron, with a smirk on his face.

"A quantum surge? How do you intend to use it?" Tarantulas asked excitedly. Megatron smiled at his lieutenant. He tapped a button on his chair arm. From the ceiling, a lift descended with a large chunk of rock upon it.

"How indeed?" Megatron mused as Tarantulas took a look at what was embedded in the rock.

"Old fossilized bones? What do you hope to-" Tarantulas was interrupted.

"This," Megatron said as he held up the alien sphere, "is the fuel. And this," Megatron continued, motioning to the bones of a creature long extinct- "is the fire I shall ignite with it." Megatron finished as he started to chuckle. The chuckle turned into a laugh. Tarantulas backed away as Megatron laughed more. And his laughter echoed on through the night.


End file.
